Velvet Sky recalls Dixie Carter’s infamous speech from 2009 that left fans confused and talent irritated.
When footage of the speech surfaced online, Velvet Sky—who was just inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame last month—spoke out very negatively about Carter’s speech, and about Carter herself.
“I remember this day,” Sky wrote. “The consensus of the locker room and staff during this ‘meeting’ was not one single person gave a s*** what she was saying and we actually had to take time out of production day for this nonsense from her and it had to be filmed so she could have her ‘my way or the highway’ ego stroked even more. She was not well received by most because of the way she treated people who could do nothing for her and the way she would talk down to people. Vile.”
One of Sky’s followers said it was stupid to do this segment “as a work.” Sky’s response: “None of what she said was a work.”
In November of 2009, Total Nonstop Action had publicly announced the signing of former WWF and WCW world champion Hulk Hogan, but he had not yet appeared nor been directly mentioned on their television show. It was a turbulent time in TNA, with several wrestlers reportedly requesting their releases in the weeks leading up to the Hogan signing.
In that environment, Dixie Carter—who had rarely been seen on TNA television up to that point—opened Impact by laying down the law to her entire roster, who sat glumly in the stands as she spoke.
“Nobody likes drastic change. Nobody likes big moves. I understand that. And it affects different people different ways. And while I respect that those of you out there that might have differing opinions of the decisions that I’m making, I expect you to support me 100%. When you question things in this company, you’re questioning me. And I cannot allow that to happen,” she said at one point.
“Business is about choices,” she continued further. “I’ve made the choice to put my finances, my reputation, my passion, my love behind each and every one of you and this company. And it’s time for you to do the same thing. You have a choice to make. You can choose to support me, you can choose to support the direction TNA is going, or you can choose not to. But you’ll need to find another place to work.”
“This was hardly a rah-rah speech,” Bryan Alvarez wrote at the time. “Essentially, she told the world that a lot of people thought she was crazy for bringing in Hulk Hogan, a lot of people were second-guessing her, she didn’t like it, and if they weren’t happy they needed to find work elsewhere.”
Dixie Carter started running TNA when her parents, the owners of Panda Energy, purchased the company in 2002. She was in charge of TNA for 14 years before the promotion was sold to Anthem Entertainment in 2017. Her last on-camera appearance was in 2016, in a segement with EC3, Eric Young, and Matt Hardy.
Velvet Sky started with TNA in 2007 and was a regular part of the promotion through 2016, making sporadic appearances since then. She is a two-time Knockouts champion and a former Knockouts tag team champion.
